Jeff Cox Famous Quotes & Sayings

A garden is a love song, a duet between a human being and Mother Nature. More pictures »

Since a fully mature, rigorous vine will fully use 60 square feet or more spacings closer than 6x10 for wine grapes aren't usually recommended in America. More pictures »

A person who loves his or her work Is like a plant in the right spot: There growth is maximized And the yield is greatest.

Our notion of what makes a paradise always returns to the image of a beautiful and fruitful garden.

Confronted with the vision of a beautiful garden, we see something beautiful about ourselves.

It's possible to make one's own grape pest disease culture by looking for sick or dead caterpillars. If sick, they will lose color and move slowly, if at all. At death, they often hang limp and darkened from a leaf by a spot of "glue." Several of these are all you need to treat an acre of vines. Whiz them in a blender with a quart of water, strain, and dilute to spray your vines. Use right away, as this mixture will start to putrefy after just twelve hours. It's a bit grisly, but very cheap and very effective. Just don't forget to clean the blender

The pH of a must will go up as fermentation progresses.

New York state grape scientists go so far as to say that 'the site characteristics of rain fall, soil nutrients, organic matter, high lime, soil texture and pH are minor compared with soil depth, temperature and replant status.

Cold stabilization has these benefits, however: it gets rid of the crystals, which is nice in a cosmetic sense. It reduces the acidity slightly and softens the wine. The latter benefit is the chief one.

Interestingly, vinifera is native to the same ara of southwestern Russia as the original Indo-European peoples, whose prehistoric migrations carried the Indo-European language and the vinifera grape to all parts of the ancient world.

For the home winemaker at the crush stage, it's enough to shoot for 50 ppm (SO2) for reds and 70 ppm for whites, adjustable as the pH dictates from the optimums.

High soil potassium is directly linked to high pH in the juice.

Fresh grapes and wine are perhaps the most luscious foods we mortals encounter during our sojourn here.